Spray apparatus for printing presses



Oct. 16, 1956 w. F. BALL 2,766,718

SPRAY APPARATUS PoR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 25, 1954 2 sheets-Sheet1 @www @Vgn/M644 Oct. 16, 1956 w. F. BALL 2,766,718

SPRAY APPARATUS POPPPINTING PRESSES Filed March 25, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet2 A f@ l 8 i i| wik? 9 li n A-Pf a l A i a i L ffl SPRAY APPARATUS FORPRINTENG PRESSES William Frederick Ball, Brooklands, Sale, England, asnsignor to T. C. Thompson & Son Limited, Manchester, England, a Britishcompany Application March 25, 1954, Serial No. 418,719

Claims. (Cl. 118-46) This invention has reference to spray apparatus forprinting presses and has for its object to provide improvements in themeans whereby liquid or powder can be sprayed on the face of a printedsheet on a platen printing press to prevent the transfer of the print onto the back of the next sheet laid on the pile in a manner which permitsa more satisfactory regulation of the air pressure used for effectingthe spray.

On the type of printing press in which a pump consisting of a cylinderand piston makes one reciprocation for each cycle of the machine for thepurpose of supplying suction and blow to assist the feed and delivery ofthe sheets, it is common practice to use the whole or part of either theup or down stroke of the same pump to operate an apparatus for sprayinganti set-off liquid upon the freshly printed sheets.

More recently it has become practice to substitute a powder for theliquid spray.

The methods used up to now have not been entirely satisfactory, evenwith liquid spray, and with the newer powder spray where it is desirableto regulate the air pressure precisely, they are not satisfactory atall. The present invention though described with reference to a powderspray can also be used with a liquid spray.

According to the invention, a platen printing press having suctionfeeding and releasing means actuated by a pump for lifting blank sheetsfrom a pile for transfer to the platen, and also having a sprayingdevice for spraying the printed sheets, has the air supply for the paperlifting and releasing means and for the spraying means controlledautomatically by a valve in the pipe line operated independently of thepump but synchronised with the pump in its movement.

The invention is more particularly set forth with reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l` is a general side elevation of the machine showing the partsreferred to herein;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic front elevation to show more clearlytheposition of the spray; `and Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are'sectionaldiagrammatic views showing the valve inV three different positions.

As shown in the drawings in which the numeral 6 indicates the press as awhole, the air pump 7, which is reciprocated by any convenient means,has a tube S connected to its lower or back end through which it drawsin and blows out air. This tube at the end remote from the pump hasopenings at 9 and is used for lifting sheets of paper 10 by suction asthe pump draws the air in, releasing them when the suction is cut off.Between the pump 7 and the openings at 9 there is inserted in the tube 8a valve 11 and between the valve 11 and the pump 7 is a branch tube 12to a container 13 for a spraying medium preferably a powder, but whichmay be a liquid. The tube to the container 13 has a one way valve 13aand from the container there is an outlet tube 14 to conduct thespraying to the part Where it 2,766,718 Patented Oct. 16, 1956 isneeded, a spraying nozzle 15 being on the end of the tube 14.

The valve 11 in the tube 8 is in the form of a plunger 16 in anopen-ended cyclinder 17, the movement of the plunger being transverse tothe axis of the tube 8. The plunger 16 has two diameters, one diameterfilling the full bore of the cylinder so that when it is in oneposition, it completely cuts off the pump from the open end of the tube,see Fig. 3, the other diameter 18 being less, so that when the plungeris moved out -of the position where it completely closes the tube, Fig`3, the part of smaller diameter 18 opens the passage through the -tube8. The end of the part of the plunger which is of smaller diameter hason it a head or washer 19 and this, when the plunger is appropriatelymoved, closes the end of the cylinder when it cornes intocontacttherewith (Fig. 5). The movement of the plunger 16 is effected by a camaction or other means such as a trip and is synchronised to work withthe other parts of the machine associated with the pump in one directionagainst a spring 20 around the plunger 16 outside the cylinder abuttingon a head. A suitable cam action is shown where a cam 21 operates on onearm of a lever 22 whose other arm engages the end of the plunger 16 andis at its end connected to a lever operated mechanism for use when it isdesired to stop `a sheet from being lifted oft the pile 16, the operatorpulling back the hand lever 23 and so preventing the valve from openingand allowing air to enter the t'ube 3 at the openings 9. The size andshape of the cam are made according to requirements of pressure andtiming so that the cam will move the piston to the positions shown inFigs, 3 and 4 and will allow the spring to move the piston to theposition shown in Fig. 5.

During the compression stroke of the pump 7 the plunger 16 is moved tothe position where it closes the tube 8 as shown in Fig. 3, so that the`only escape for the air is through the branch pipe 12 -through the oneway valve 13a to the container 13 for the material to be sprayed, thespray thus being ejected, the length of time that is allowed for theactual spraying is determined by the length of time the valve plunger isin position for closing the tube. When the plunger 16 is moved to theposition where its smaller diameter 18 is across the tube 8, a freepassage for the air is provided through the open cylinder end asindicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 and through the open end of the tube8, this inlet of air stops the blow at 15 by lowering the pressure.

After this inlet of air, the valve at once closes to the position shownin Fig. 5 as the -suction stroke of the pump begins.

During the suction stroke of the pump 7, the valve is in the positionshown in Fig. 5 and air is drawn in at 9 and by it's suction lifts theblank sheet at the top of pile 16 and while holding it carries it to theplaten in the direction of the arrow 24 and being moved by mechanism ofany suitable kind to do this, such a motion being known in connectionwith platen printing presses and not constituting part of thisinvention, the suction being broke at the turn of the arrow when thevalve again (but this time on the suction stroke) is moved to the Fig. 4position, thus releasing the sheet on to the platen. it will thus beunderstood that while the valve reaches the position of Fig. 4 on boththe suction and compression strokes of the pump, on the suction strokeit releases the paper from the pile 10 on to the platen and on thecompression stroke it stops the blow from 15.

lf it be required to discontinue the action of the valve as described sothat sheets :are not fed on to the platen, a handle 23 is providedworking through a link 25 to lift the end of the arm 22 and put thevalve into the position shown in Fig. 4 to prevent the head or washer 19from closing the open end of the cylinder, in which case outside air asindicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 is sucked into the pipe 8 through thecylinder end, during which time the suction stroke of the pump isprevented from lacting to feed sheets from the pile 10 into the press.

It will be understood that the cam 21 is made and timed to control theflow of air to and from the pump and that the cam is rotated by asuitable part of the mechanism of the machine, so that the lifting andspraying of the sheets are automatically effected in the correctsequence and correctly timed in connection with the pump.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for spraying in a printing press comprising, a pump,suction lifting and releasing means for lifting blank sheets from a pileand subsequently releasing the sheets for the printing operation, vacontainer for a spraying medium for spraying the printed sheets, a spraydevice connected to said container, a main pipe line from said pump tosaid suction lifting and releasing means, a branch pipe line to saidcontainer, a one way valve in said branch pipe line, a reciprocatingspring return valve in said main pipe line to said suction lifting andreleasing means situated between said branch pipe line and said suc-tionlifting and releasing means, and means synchronised with said pump foractuating said return valve to control in alternate reciprocations thesupply of air to said suction lifting and releasing means for thelifting and'releasing of the blank sheets and the supply of air to saidcontainer for the spraying of the printed sheets.

2. Apparatus for controlling printing press spraying comprising, a pump,a main air pipe from said pump, a valve in said air pipe, a containerfor a spray medium, a branch air pipe between said valve and said pumpand connected to said container, a one way valve in said branch pipe,said main air pipe having a suction and blowing device for liftingsheets to be printed at the terminal end thereof, means for operatingsaid valve, said valve being operated in synchronization with said pumpand allowing a predetermined portion of the total volume of airdisplaced by said pump to be directed through said branch pipe past saidone way valve to the container for blowing the spray medium on toprinted sheets removed from the printing position and simultaneouslycontrolling the air to and from said suction and blowing device forfeeding the sheets.

3. In apparatus for printing press spraying comprising, an air pumppositioned on the printing press and operated thereby, a main pipeconnected to said pump and a valve operated in synchronisation with saidpump, said main pipe carrying suction and blowing means for liftingblank sheets onto the printing press for the printing thereof, asecondary pipe between said pump and said valve, a one way valve in saidsecondary pipe, and a container for a spraying medium connected to saidsecondary pipe to spray on to printed sheets removed from the press anddeposited on a pile.

4 4. In apparatus for printing press spraying comprising, an air pumpdisposed on the press and operated thereby, a primary pipe from saidpump, a container for a spray medium, a secondary pipe from said pumpconnected to said container, a one way valve in said secondary pipebetween said pump and said container, a valve in said primary pipebeyond said secondary pipe, a suction and blowing end on said primarypipe beyond said secondary pipe, a suction and blowing end on saidprimary pipe beyond said valve, said valve having a cylindrical openingat right angles to said primary pipe, a piston in the opening of saidvalve, av spring on said piston outside the cylindrical opening of saidvalve, part of said piston being of the same diameter as said openingand part less, said lesser part projecting from the cylindrical openingof said valve at the end of said piston opposite from said spring,cooperative means between said valve and pump, a head on said lesserpart for closing the cylindrical opening of said valve when said valveis down, said valve being pressed in one direction by positive actionand being returned by said spring. 5. In apparatus for printing pressspraying comprising, an air pump ixed to the printing press and operatedthereby, a main pipe from said pump, a container for a spray medium, abranch pipe leading to said container, a valve beyond said branch pipein said main pipe, and cooperative means between said Valve and pump,said main pipe leading from said valve to a suction and blowingterminus, said valve comprising an open ended cylinder at right anglesto said main pipe, ports in said cylinder being aligned on the axis ofsaid main pipe, a piston in the cylinder of said valve and projectingthrough the open ends thereof, said piston being of the same diameter asthe cylinder lof said valve for part of `its length, a Spring on saidpiston outside of the cylinder of said Valve urging said pistonoutwardly, a head on the other end of said piston to close the open endof the cylinder of said valve remote from said spring when said pistonis pulled down by said spring, said piston from said head downwardsbetween said head :and said part of equal diameter with the cylinderbeing of less diameter whereby when said piston is fully moved in onedirection one open end of the cylinder is closed and both ports arelopen and when said piston is at the other extreme position both portsare closed and the end of the cylinder under said piston head is open`and when said piston is at a midway position both ports are open andalso the end of the cylinder.

References Cited in the leof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,414,872Frederick May 2, 1922 1,861,605 Maass June 7, 1932 2,110,219 Green etal. Mar. 8', 1938 2,262,109 Miller Nov. 1l1, A194,-] 2,627,809 Worth 1Feb. 10, 1953 2,633,797 Larson Apr. 7, 12953

